Atlanta food and restaurant blog | The Blissful Glutton » Spanish

Nibbles

blissfulglutton — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Floataway Café
This has to be one of my favorite places to eat in Atlanta. The menu always makes me smile and I have not had a bad meal here in ages. Not crazy about the redesign and the service is always iffy. But, my food was on point last night. Got a beautiful roasted beet salad (pictured above) with local chevre, radishes, mache and slices of avocado. My steak frites was perfect. Smoky meat cooked at the right temperature and the fries….oh the fries. They are my favorite in Atlanta. Still going strong after all these years.

Stella Neighborhood Trattoria
Went to this new Grant Park Italian place. Great service, but they are still getting their rhythm down in the kitchen. Standouts were the arugula salad and cod fritters. Pasta dishes lacked salt and the meat in the pork dish was tough. The polenta that came with our braised short ribs was an odd shade of grade, but the grass-fed meat from Riverview farms was tender and tasty. While I appreciate the attempt at making pizza a bit healthier with the wheat crust, I am just not a fan. They are using local ingredients, which is a huge plus. And, I can totally see this place becoming a family-friendly joint for neighborhood locals.

Cuerno
Made a return visit to this little gem since my “first impression” and I’m still loving it. We tried the brandade, which was buttery and a total joy to eat. Still making our way around the paella selections, we went for the soupy paella with lobster. It was good, but I prefer the Valenciana. Splurged and got some of the Iberico, which the chef came to slice at our table. Although it is pricey, it was worth the splurge. My only complaint was the sangria, which I found to be very weak on flavor. Service was great and it quickly becoming one of my favorite spots in Atlanta.
Photo of forbidden rice at Beleza courtesy of DDanzig on flickr

Beleza
After a completely disappointing meal here with the previous chef, I went to check out the new menu and chef. Cocktails—specifically the passion fruit capirnha (swoon)—have to be some of the best in the city. But, the food fell flat for me once again. The homemade root chips were a nice start to the meal, but the salsa completely bored me. The forbidden rice (something most people rave about) was too al dente for my taste and so cold it made my teeth hurt. Same problem with the farro salad. Interesting use of ingredients, but not destination worthy like Ullio’s other restaurants such as Cuerno and Sotto Sotto.

First impression: Cuerno

blissfulglutton — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:46:00 +0000

View from my table (I know you can’t et enough of these iphone pics!)

RESTAURANT REVIEW:
I’ll never forget my first taste of Spanish cuisine. My father, the ever-seasoned world traveler, fed my sister and I treats like jamón ibérico and croquetas de jamón while we stood at a tapas bar on a little side street after a bullfight one night in Sevilla. While I was living in Paris with a Spanish family, I was lucky to travel to Madrid and Barcelona for business with my boss (I still don’t know how I swung that), so I got to learn much more about the intricacies of the cuisine. Needless to say, I was hooked and have been ever since. So, you can imagine my excitement when I heard Riccardo Ullio was opening Cuerno.

The restaurant feels very much like Europe–the design firm did a great job of capturing the warmth of Spain with the rich colors, wood, and textures. My dining companion could not stop commenting on the metal bull smack dab in the center of the restaurant complete with glass cojones. There were some bets placed involving the bull, but he chickened out–dude, you owe me five bucks.

Since it was only two of us, we did not want to order a lot of food (which we ended up doing anyway), so we chose the croquetas de jamón, fabada Asturiana, ensalada de pulpo (octopus) and the paella Valenciana. The croquetas came out first and they were spectacular. No grease and full of ham-y goodness. The fabada was another winner. The sausage was delicious and the gigantes (Greek lima beans) were soft and well seasoned. My table mate and I could not stop dipping our bread in the thick broth once all the beans were gone. The pulpo was the only loser of the night and it wasn’t because of execution. The octopus, perched on top of potato medallions, was slightly fishy (a common issue with octopus unless you are by the sea) and very chewy. It was seasoned well and looked beautiful on the plate, but Bliss doesn’t eat fishy octopus. Our server, Eric (?), was attentive and overall sweetheart throughout the whole night. When we decided to send the octopus back (something I rarely do), he didn’t seem put out at all and quickly whisked it away from the table. The main event, the paella, came to our table looking lovely. They place the paella dish on a thick cast iron trivet with a wooden spoon for serving yourself. The paella was delicious, but we could barely finish half of it because we were stuffed by this point. Not a bad thing considering the reasonable prices. Each grain of Bomba rice was perfectly intact and seasoned well. My favorite part of the paella, aside from the perfect socarrat (the toasted ‘crust’ of rice on the bottom of the paella dish), were the massive prawns and tender rabbit. An overall great meal and I am anxious to try more dishes especially after the restaurant hits their stride. If chef Ullio keeps things consistent with our meal last night, Cuerno might just be a regular stop on my restaurant rotation.

Preliminary verdict: The restaurant has only been opened for a couple of weeks, but I have to say that my experience left me wanting to make a return visit to sample more of the dishes—especially the paellas. The bill was around $80 bucks (before tip and after the removed the octopus from the bill) including a nice bottle of Spanish red. An overall good value for the amount of food you get. Just an FYI: The parking situation is a bit annoying (you need to use the $5 valet in the Wachovia if you don’t score one of the few street spaces), but I am used to parking limitations from San Francisco so it didn’t bother me much.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION:
Address: 905 Juniper St.
Phone: (678) 904-4584
Payment: Cash and all major credit cards
Website

Eclipse di Luna: Atlanta

blissfulglutton — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 16:30:00 +0000

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

We were in the mood for Paella and I didn’t want to make it. We wanted something close so we went to Eclipse di Luna. The atmosphere was warm and lively. It was packed at 8:45 on a Sunday night. There was live music playing and I ordered the bottomless glass of Sangria for $10. It was not over-sweetened like most places but it was a bit too watery for my taste. We ordered the octopus, mushrooms, and paella for two. The octopus was so rubbery I could not cut it with my knife. The human garbage can ate the rest. The mushrooms were really good. Garlic, preserved lemon, breadcrumbs…divine. The paella was undercooked and not that great. But, I have never found an authentic version outside of Spain. The seafood and meats were cooked well but there was a pool of broth at the bottom of our pan. I would go back because it is a good place for drinks and nibblies with friends.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION:

Address: 764 Miami Circle, NE

Phone:(404) 846-0449

URL: www.eclipsediluna.com

Cuisine: Spanish, Tapas